The Speaker’s Edge Competition™

The Speaker's Edge Competition is a transformative public speaking competition for students in the MBA program and the Center for Manufacturing Excellence (CME).

The MBA Competition is cohosted by the School of Business Administration, The Lott Leadership Institute, and Extreme Arts and Sciences. The CME Competition is cohosted by CME, the Lott Leadership Institute, and Extreme Arts and Sciences.

Participating students spend 10 days working with world-class communication coaches, studying the skills of high-impact public speaking. They learn the strengths and weaknesses of their own personal styles and learn to adapt their messages to different audiences and different situations. The program culminates in a very exciting, two-day competition in which students present three different presentations before a panel of judges comprised of industry business leaders.

The most important part of the Speaker's Edge Competition is the alumni involvement that focuses on the community education of Ole Miss students to help them understand the practical "real world" application of classroom knowledge. This alumni collaboration is key and is based on Randy Harrington's idea of cutting edge communication.

The MBA program was the first to incorporate this idea in 2003 with the first Speaker's Edge Competition, but the CME has continued this tradition in 2012 with its own competition. While mirroring the MBA's in format, the competition is specific to the industry.

In the News

MBA Students Hone Speaking Skills in Annual Speaker's Edge Competition [read more]

Students travel to Charleston, SC to attend the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) and the Republican Presidential Primary debate, hosted by CNN. [read more]

Speaking Events

• Ethical Dilemmas: This is a limited preparation event. Students receive a case citing a dilemma of ethics within a business setting. Students have 30 minutes to prepare a 7-minute speech addressing how they might effectively respond to the ethical dilemma.
• The Marketplace Pitch (6–8 minutes): The marketplace of ideas is alive and well at Ole Miss. Students present their best ideas for a product and/or service. As rising professionals these students research, develop, and pitch their ideas exercising the centuries old art of persuasion.
• Informative Communication (6–8 minutes): Communicating Complex Information: This event showcases the student's ability to communicate technically complex information to a non-technical audience.